quote:
NASA has chosen umbilical extra vehicular activity (EVA) as the space walk method for its Constellation programme's Orion crew exploration vehicle.During the Space Shuttle programme, tethered EVA space suits have had onboard all the air and power required for working in the Orbiter's payload bay or assembling the International Space Station.
Umbilical EVAs mean the space suit will draw its air and power from the astronaut's spacecraft, in future the Orion Command Module. The last NASA umbilical spacewalk was during the agency's final Skylab mission, Skylab-4, in 1974.
This article is a bit misleading as it suggests that Orion is intended to support EVAs. It is not; any EVAs will be contingency only.The Orion suit (formally Constellation Space Suit System or CSSS) is the basis for the next lunar EMU, and thus is being designed to serve as both an LES and (L)EVA garment.
posted 07-31-2007 03:55 PM
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